Mae Mercer

{{short description|American actress}}

{{More footnotes needed|date=November 2011}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Mae Mercer

| birth_name = Mary Ruth Mercer

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1932|6|12}}

| birth_place = Battleboro, North Carolina, U.S.

| death_date = {{Death date and age|2008|10|29|1932|6|12}}

| death_place = Northridge, California, U.S.

| spouse =

| years_active =

| occupation =

}}

Mae Mercer (June 12, 1932 – October 29, 2008) was an American blues singer and actress. She was born in the Temperance Hall community of Edgecombe County.{{Cite web |title=9 Jun 1996, 11 - Rocky Mount Telegram at Newspapers.com |url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/?clipping_id=86669437&fcfToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJmcmVlLXZpZXctaWQiOjMzODIzOTY4NywiaWF0IjoxNjUyOTcxMzI3LCJleHAiOjE2NTMwNTc3Mjd9.ey-wwzwCvwvmKb3eVmdHw3d3AlzM9-z3x91bt13f0K4 |access-date=2022-05-19 |website=Newspapers.com |language=en}}

Mercer lived in North Carolina through age 15.{{cite news |last1=Borsten |first1=Orin |title=Mae thinks it over, then plays slave |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/76107546/the-post-crescent/ |access-date=April 20, 2021 |work=The Post-Crescent |date=July 5, 1970 |location=Wisconsin, Appleton |page=Showtime 7|via = Newspapers.com}} She spent eight years in the 1960s singing in a blues bar in Paris, the Blues Club, owned by publisher Maurice Girodias and touring Europe. She eventually came to own and operate a blues club in the city.{{Cite web |title=9 Jun 1996, 11 - Rocky Mount Telegram at Newspapers.com |url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/?clipping_id=86669437&fcfToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJmcmVlLXZpZXctaWQiOjMzODIzOTY4NywiaWF0IjoxNjUyOTcxMzI3LCJleHAiOjE2NTMwNTc3Mjd9.ey-wwzwCvwvmKb3eVmdHw3d3AlzM9-z3x91bt13f0K4 |access-date=2022-05-19 |website=Newspapers.com |language=en}}

Mercer returned to the United States in the early 1970s to begin a career as an actress in films and television. Films in which she appeared included Dirty Harry (1971), The Beguiled (1971), Frogs (1972), Cindy (1978), and Pretty Baby (1978).{{Citation needed |date=April 2021}} She was co-producer of the documentary film Angela Davis: Portrait of a Revolutionary (1972).{{cite journal |title=Mae Mercer Sues Football Player For Accident Injuries |journal=Jet |date=January 20, 1972 |volume=XLI |issue=17 |page=62 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w1sDAAAAMBAJ&dq=%22Mae+Mercer%22&pg=PA62 |access-date=April 20, 2021}}

In 1996, the Mayor of Rocky Mount, NC, Fred Turnage, declared June 12 Mae Mercer Day. During this time, Mercer sought to produce her own biographical picture through her production company Black Owl Productions and was backed by local pastor Reverend James Bullock. Filming was slated to take place in Edgecombe County and other parts of North Carolina, New York, Paris and Southern California.{{Cite web |title=9 Jun 1996, 11 - Rocky Mount Telegram at Newspapers.com |url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/?clipping_id=86669437&fcfToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJmcmVlLXZpZXctaWQiOjMzODIzOTY4NywiaWF0IjoxNjUyOTcxMzI3LCJleHAiOjE2NTMwNTc3Mjd9.ey-wwzwCvwvmKb3eVmdHw3d3AlzM9-z3x91bt13f0K4 |access-date=2022-05-19 |website=Newspapers.com |language=en}}